ReStart
by sleepingbag cytoplasm
Summary: Basically a Humanstuck AU
1. Chapter 1

ReStart.

They had started over.

The trolls, the kids, the dancestors, they had all started over. Not their session, but rather, their lives. There was only one way to get to live a normal life now.

A normal life without the game, without the drama, without the weird talents and abilities and most importantly, without any of the bullshit that the game had brought. No Jack, no Lord English, no Doc Scratch, none of it. They had to start over completely.

Aranea had mentioned that there was an option, but everyone had dissed it, brushed it off, said it was stupid and wouldn't work. But now, as Terezi sat there near dead, she pulled out Dave's phone, which she had kept so furtively, and messaged her past self. Back when she and the others were in labs, exploring, all alive.

"1T'S A TR4P," she said. "DON'T. PL4Y. TH3 GAM3.

W3 4LL D13.

FOR GOOD.

NO GO1NG B4CK.

DO WH4T 4R4N34 S41D.

GO TO TH3 3CTOB1OLOGY L4B.

F1ND TH3 GR33N BUTTON. PR3SS 1T.

1T W1LL R3V3RS3 4LL TH1S. 4LL OF US, 3V3RYON3, W1LL L1VE ON 34RTH. 1N TH3 S4M3 T1MEL1NE.

NO, W3 WON'T R3C4LL OUR L1V3S ON 4LTERN14, B3C4US3 4LT3ERN14 W1LL F41L TO 3XIST.

1 4M NOT 3V3N COMPL3T3LY SUR3 HOW THIS WORKS. 4LL 1 KNOW 1S TH4T 1T W1LL T4KE US TO TH3 CURR3NT UN1V3RS3.

4ND 1T W1LL R3S3T TO TH3 V3RY D4Y JOHN W4S TO ST4RT H1S S3SS1ON.

ONLY H3 WON'T.

TH3 G4ME WON'T 3XIST. 4ND TH3 WORLD W1LL B3 4S THOUGH W3 W3R3 4LW4YS P4RT OF 1T.

1 KNOW 1T'S CONFUS1NG BUT JUST DO 1T, 1T'S OUR L4ST HOP3."

Terezi layed her down, defeated, and hoped her past self listened. She was the last one left. She did what she could. Now all she could do, was wait.

John's alarm went off early Monday morning. It was his birthday. He rolled out of bed, scruffed up his hair, and walked out of his room to get on with his usual morning routine.

He had his hair done, teeth brushed, breakfast ate, and he was heading out the door. Then he remembered something: His phone.

"Hey Dad, I forgot something," John called, walking back into the house.

"That's fine, son. Happy birthday."

John bounded upstairs and swiftly grabbed his phone. 3 new messages.

He walked back out the door, shutting it behind him, and scrolled his messages.

Dave: dude im nervous about jade

Dave: what if she says no

Dave: oh ps happy birthday

Vriska: John, did you get number 8 on our math homework last night? Happy birthday btw.

Something felt different, but John couldn't tell what it was. Like there was something nagging at him, in the very back of his head, but he didn't know what. It was strange, but he decided to ignore it.

Once he was seated in his middle seat on the right of his bus, he replied.

"don't worry dave, she can't say no to a strider. and thanks!" John texted.

Vriska: Joooooooohn. Hello. Problem 8. I need it. Please?

"oh sorry vriska, hehe got caught up talking to dave, and the answer is 413. haha, just like my birthday! :B"

Dave: yeah lets hope youre right

It wasn't long before John arrived at Highlands Middle School. Him, along with all his other friends, were in 8th grade. It was already mid April. He couldn't believe that he was just now turning 13 but would soon be in 9th grade.

The halls were crowded. But as he made his way to his locker, he was able to decipher some people from the mess.

For example, Karkat. It was easy to spot him out, he was the only kid in the hall who was short with black hair. He was looking quite sheepish standing over by the water fountain talking to Terezi.

He could also spot out Rose and Kanaya. Those two were always together, he swore there was something going on between them.

As John made his way down the hall to his locker by the restrooms, the nagging thought in the back of his head grew stronger,

Wasn't he supposed to play a game today?


	2. Chaper 2

ReStart –Part Two

Yes, a game. That's what kept nagging John in the back of his head. He didn't know what game exactly, but he felt as though he should be playing it today. Why was it such a big deal, though?

John DID wanna try out Five Night's at Freddy's for his gaming channel he ran with Dave, but the urgency to play couldn't be _that _strong!

Choosing to ignore it once more, John reached his locker. It was slim, and a pale, ugly green. He had wanted to paint it a brighter shade, but he'd get expelled for damage of school property, and wouldn't wanna take that record away from 10th grader, Damara.

John grabbed his mathbook, slammed his locker shut, and turned around. Greeting him by standing face to face was his cousin, Jane.

"Howdy there, John!" Jane said in a bright tone. John always admired her seemingly cheerful vernacular; it was a good change from the negativity he was used to from all his other friends.

"Oh, hey Jane," John said, a bit surprised. His cousin was in the 10th grade, and rarely made her way down to this side of school to visit him. That is, unless something was up. "What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to say happy birthday before you went to class. I didn't figure your father would pay much attention to the subject, so I thought I'd try to butter your biscuit and made sure you know that I did." Jane explained.

"Oh, haha, well thanks. And hey, happy birthday to you too! The fact that we share the same birthday is pretty-"

"Straight up ironic." Dave cut in.

Laughing, John pushed Dave aside.

"I was gonna say cool, but never mind," John chuckled.

"Well, hey. I gotta go," Jane said quickly. "But I'll message you later, John. See ya!" Jane dashed down the hall.

"Damn, she's pretty hot," Dave admitted, staring after her.

"Ack! Dave, that's my cousin! Focus on Jade right now, jeez!" John snapped.

"Sorry, man. Hey I'm outta here, gotta get to class. Bye." Dave turned and walked down the hall.

John shook his head. Oh, Dave.

At the same time, somewhere else in large building, sat a groggy blonde in a fuzzy pink sweater that fell a little bit off her shoulder.

"Dirk, ~" she cooed, tracing a finger on the boy next to her's shoulder.

The boy next to her, another blonde with flamboyant, _wind whipped _hair, stared straight ahead through his stupid pointy shades that he knew good and well the teacher would make him take off any minute now.

"What, Roxy?" He sighed.

"Did you do the hooomework?" The ditzy blonde, Roxy, asked.

"Yes, I did the homework." Dirk said clearly. "Why do you ask?"

"Ohh, I don't knooow,"

"Roxy, would you quit carrying out your 'o's like that? It's getting on my nerves."

"Oops, sorry," Roxy laughed. Dirk could tell she hadn't slept off her hangover. God, what the weekends did to her.

"I cannot believe your mom doesn't know about your drinking. You've failed three school intoxication tests now, what is the deal?" He asked, turning to face her.

"Pfft, Drik, you knoow I'm a skilled hacker! I hack into them systems like it ain't shit every…dayyy. I make _sure _they don'y email my mom or some shit. And we don't have a voicemail on the homephone, and my mom didn't give the school her cell number. So Iiii'm scott free!"

Dirk shook his head.

"Really Roxy, if I wasn't so busy, I'd try getting you some help. I'm pretty sure you're failing algebra. Science, too."

"Pshh, what_ever. _Once I snap outta my drunk little haze, I'll be fine! I always manage to snap my grades back up, ya knoow?"

"What did I say about carrying out your 'o's."

"Shit, sorry."

A few hours later, Karkat Vantas, the short kid with black hair who was generally anti-social and screeched a lot, sat down in science in between his SECRET (though it was totally obvious) crush Terezi, and the person who was crushing on him, an innocent little cat girl who was best friends with a muscular jock who sweats a lot.

"Oh hey, CrabCatch, how's it going?" Terezi greeted him as soon as he sat down. Nepeta was occupied with some sort of drawing, so he figured he was safe.

"Hey," he replied. Hiding his love for Terezi's goofy nicknames.

"Ugh, I can't believe Miss Mailady gave us homework over the weekend!" She huffed, her scrappy orange hair falling over one eye. Karkat wanted to brush it away, but immediately ditched the idea and blushed instead.

"Jeez, Karkat. If you're gonna blush at me while I complain about homework you might as well ask me out already," Terezi grinned. He blushed harder.

"I-" His tongue tied, he didn't know what to do.

"Fine, fine. It can wait," Terezi flipped open her binder, the topic quickly fizzing away.

"Nononono, will you go out with me?! SHIT, I sound so stupid! Fuckfuckfuck-"

"Yes." Terezi said, still grinning.

"Hey, good job, brother!" A swazey voice called from the back.

He did it.


	3. Chapter 3

ReStart –Part Three

It was finally lunch time for the 8th grade at Highlands Middle School.

The nagging feeling hadn't really been bothering John as much as usual, since he was using his mind for school related stuff, but as he sat down with Dave and Vriska at lunch, it started to come back again.

"God, not again," Joh muttered.

"Yo, what," Dave asked, catching a bit of John's muttering.

"Ugh, nothing. I've just got something on my mind, I just don't know what it is, though. It's starting to give me a headache." John explained.

"Damn, that sucks. Oh hey, there's Jade," Dave said, the interest in his voice peaking. He gestured to a girl with long, dark brown hair in a green and white striped shirt that fit her figure. She had rather large framed glasses, a fair complexion, and a thin, but not boney, body with a slight hourglass figure. John figured she was pretty, a nice girl too, but he just didn't like her like that. He was more into Vriska, but she and Eridan had something between them.

"You should go talk to her. Now's your chance. I mean, hey, the school year is almost over just about. You gotta ask sometime," John said encouragingly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dave mused, his hazel, almost red looking eyes, still focused on Jade.

"I am. Do itttt." John pressed.

"Fine, fine," Dave got up and looked at John. "But if this backfires, it's your fault."

John watched as Dave strode up to his candy green crush. He laughed. It was almost funny seeing cool-guy Strider get all nervous about a girl. John didn't really have the issue, he barely had any hard-core crushes, but even then he wouldn't hold himself back from just asking her out. Or so he thought. Then what was holding him back from asking Vriska?

John sighed and caught a glimpse of the girl sitting across from him, but she wasn't looking back. She was talking to the boy next to her, the hipster douche with huge framed glasses and a purple streak that somehow the school let him get away with in his hair.

Ugh, Vriska. She wasn't too friendly, yet somehow managed to scrounge up a small group of friends, including John. She was notorious for her bitchy attitude and her general reluctance to socialize with anyone she didn't really know or was friends with. John wondered how the spidery girl even managed to find a group of friends, she was so mean to outsiders. But he knew once you got to know her, got on her good side, got to be considered her friend and got her to actually fucking like you, she wasn't bad at all.

She laughed, had a sense of humour. She was committed to certain fandoms, liked TV shows and actually didn't bitch quite as often as you'd think. She wasn't really open to new ideas, but bared with Feferi and all her million fandoms.

And John liked her. A lot. But among their group of friends, were two boys. Tavros, a generally shy yet cocky boy with a soft Mohawk, and Eridan, as said previously, a hipster douche.

Vriska and Tavros dated in the past, but conflicts between them led to breaking up. Neither was really hurt, and they continued to be friends. Now, Eridan was a different story.

He tried hitting it off with Feferi a few times, but gave up as he realized he was far out of her league. But him and Vriska had always been friends, and John was starting to notice how they were talking more. The way Eridan looked at Vriska. How she would occasionally steal glances at him. John couldn't believe that only just before Winter Break it had been the same case, only between_ him _ and Vriska. It made no sense.

"I… should probably do something," John whispered to himself. The more he watched Vriska and Eridan, the more brought down he got. He needed to ask her, just not yet. They talked frequently, but not as much as he used to. He needed to do one of two things; either A, start trying to build up their old relationship again, or B, pull her aside, try reasoning with her and ask now.

John glanced over to where Dave was standing, his hands shoved in his pockets, his hair hanging down around his face like he always did around the ladies. He chuckled and looked down, then up at Jade again.

John went back to his conversation with Dave,

"_You gotta ask sometime…"_

"Hey Vriska, will you walk with me for a minute, I gotta talk to you about something in algebra," John said, springing up.

A look of reluctance passed Vriska's face before she said, "Yeah, sure, why not," Then towards Eridan said, "Be right back."

John led Vriska down a quiet hall where the bathrooms were held.

"Vriska," he started. "Do you remember us before Winter Break? How we talked all the time?"

"Yeah," Vriska murmered. "Why?"

"Well, I mean, in that time, I-I… I grew feelings for you. Big ones, okay? And I thought you felt those feelings too. But then you started talking to Eridan, and now I'm just confused. So I'm just gonna ask… will you go out with me?"

John blushed hard, and awe spread across Vriska's face, then sadness.

"John, I… Eridan and I are already _together._"

That was all John needed to hear. He just nodded, and walked away back to the table. Dave was waiting.

"Dude she said yes!" Dave enthused.

"Cool, that's great," John smiled.

"And Vriska didn't." He thought.


	4. Chapter 4

ReStart –Part 4

Dave saw the difference in John's face, and knew by the tone of his voice something was wrong.

"Hey man, what's wrong? Don't say nothing because that's a straight up lie." Dave said. He followed John's gaze which landed on Vriska, who had returned to the table shortly after John.

"Is something up with Vriska?" He asked.

"N-no. Everything's fine. I just am feeling a bit sick to my stomach," John assured him. Great, he'd been dissed, had a headache and nagging feeling, and now an actual stomach ache.

"If you say so," Dave shrugged. He scanned John's face one last time with those red eyes before glancing away.

In that moment, in the back of the lunchroom, a late student rushed to her table in a fury.

"Excuse my absence, I am running a bit late," She explained, sitting down.

"It's fine Kanaya, don't worry about it," Karkat said in a bored tone next to Terezi.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Rose said calmly, adjusting her black headband. "We knew you'd show up eventually."

"Thank you," Kanaya smiled, blushing a bit.

The table they were seated at was now full, having Aradia, a student with long, lush black hair starting the left side, seated by her gamer boyfriend Sollux, followed by Kanaya, then Rose, then adorable cat girl Nepeta, who sat on the very end of the left side, across from Equius, a muscular student with his hair tied back in a sweaty ponytail. And on the right, sat Terezi, seated comfortably close to Karkat, then Gamzee, then Equius.

"So," Rose said, taking Kanaya's hand beneath the table. "Terezi, you're sitting awful close to Karkat, anything you'd like to share?" Rose smiled.

"Wellll," Terezi grinned, looking down. Her red hair covered her face. "We may or may not have started dating,"

Everyone looked at Karkat in time to see his pale face turn bright, candy red.

"The fuck are you looking at?" Karkat mumbled, but couldn't help but grin.

"Karkat!" Kanaya gleamed. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks,"

"Wow, KK," Sollux said, breaking from his conversation with Aradia. "Congrats."

The table rang with a chorus of congrats towards Karkat and Terezi's relationship.

"Row 6, you may get your lunch." The lunch monitor announced.

"Ooh, that's us!" Aradia said happily. Interlocking her fingers with Sollux, the two led the rest of the group, walking in the front of the line.

The table rose to retrieve their lunch, a positive aroma in the air.


End file.
